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FINAL Sign-On 1325 1326 Prosecutions 7.28.15 v2
FINAL Sign-On 1325 1326 Prosecutions 7.28.15 v2
Most importantly, criminalizing migration is profoundly immoral. The causes of migration are
complex and varied, and migration per se poses no threat to public safety. Our nation can find far
more humane and compassionate ways to respond to people crossing our southern border.
We urge you to end Department of Justice prosecutions for illegal entry and re-entry at the
southern border.
Short of complete discontinuation, we urge you to issue guidance directing U.S. Attorneys to 1)
significantly reduce their use of prosecutions for illegal entry and re-entry, and 2) always decline
referrals for prosecution of asylum seekers.
Thank you for your consideration. Please contact Ruthie Epstein at the American Civil Liberties
Union (repstein@aclu.org) or Rob Randhava at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human
Rights (Randhava@civilrights.org) with any questions.
Sincerely,
National Organizations
American Civil Liberties Union
American Friends Service Committee
American Immigration Council
American Immigration Lawyers Association
Asian Americans Advancing Justice AAJC
Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC)
Center for Community Change
Center for Forced Migration Studies
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies
Center for Popular Democracy
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Refugee & Immigration Ministries
Church World Service
Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC)
Council on American-Islamic Relations
Detention Watch Network
Disciples Justice Action Network
Enlace
Fair Immigration Reform Movement, FIRM
Families for Freedom
Farmworker Justice
Office of Inspector General, Streamline: Measuring Its Effect on Illegal Border Crossing 2 (May 15, 2015)
[hereinafter OIG], available at https://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/2015/OIG_15-95_May15.pdf.
2
Defendants in Streamline cases are typically detained for 1 to 14 days before appearing in court for the first time.
These individuals frequently have no counsel until their hearings, allowing little time to consult with an attorney to
understand the charges, consequences of conviction, and potential avenues for legal relief. Because a single attorney
often represents dozens of defendants at a time, he or she might not be able to speak confidentially with each client
or might have a conflict of interest among clients. Finally, Streamline hearings are conducted en masse, with
instructions relating to charges, rights, and terms of plea agreements only nominally individualized. Joanna Jacobbi
Lydgate, Assembly Line Justice: A Review of Operation Streamline 499 98 CAL. L. REV. 481 (2010), available at
http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1100&context=californialawreview. Oversight
Hearing on the Executive Office for United States Attorneys Before the Subcomm. of Commercial and
Administrative Law of the H. Comm on the Judiciary, 110th Cong. (2008) (Written Statement of Heather Williams,
First Assistant, Federal Public Defender, District of Arizona-Tucson) (Appendix 1-1), available at
http://judiciary.house.gov/_files/hearings/pdf/Williams080625.pdf. Dan Rather Reports: Operation Streamline
(AXS television broadcast May 14, 2013), available at http://vimeo.com/67640573. Solomon Moore, Push on
Immigration Crimes Is Said to Shift Focus, N.Y. TIMES, Jan. 11, 2009, at A1, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/us/12prosecute.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
3
OIG, supra note 1 at 16. The United States is bound through its accession to the 1967 Protocol Relating to the
Status of Refugees to Article 31(1) of the Refugee Convention, which prohibits states from penalizing refugees for
illegal entry. Because refugee status is a matter of discovery and a refugee is, in fact, deserving of the protections of
the Refugee Convention and Protocol prior to recognition of refugee status, the referral of asylum seekers for
criminal prosecution in the manner described by the OIG report is incompatible with U.S. commitments under
Article 31(1). Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees art. 31(1), July 28, 1951, 19 U.S.T. 6259, 189 U.N.T.S.
137, available at http://www.refworld.org/docid/3be01b964.html.
4
In FY 2013, U.S. Attorneys offices filed criminal charges against almost 100,000 immigrants for illegal entry or
illegal re-entry 53 percent of all federal prosecutions nationwide. See Syracuse University, Transactional Records